I discovered after writing the previous blog piece about clapping that some people have problems with clapping in church. I had never heard of this before. I was looking for a YouTube something on clapping in church - and surprise - there were YouTube pieces showing various folks criticizing people who suggest giving thanks to someone who made a contribution to the parish or what have you. I was surprised. However, I didn't "Boo!" at them. Tempted, but no. I don't want to go there. But I wondered, "Where have they been?" I've seen all kinds of clapping situations at Mass and at church. Haven't they been to a wedding where folks clapped for the newly married? Haven't they heard someone who just gave a great eulogy for a mom or a dad and there was a spontaneous applause? I dare an anti-clapper to go, "Shush!" when that happens. I've been here at St. Mary's and I've seen folks clap at a great sermon - and I've seen people becoming very quiet at a great sermon. I've seen Masses when the pastor or bishop congratulates the newly confirmed or newly coming into the Catholic Church and folks clapped for them. So I would have problems with anyone who is against clapping. If they personally don't want to clap, don't clap. Haven't they seen a tiny little kid under a year old clapping - and everyone loves the scene? I remember seeing a documentary on dance and Agnes de Mille said that Blacks saw some Irish tap dancers who were not moving their arms - and they thought to themselves, "Hello! Start snapping those fingers, start moving those arms and start dancing - and add some clapping in the mix. Okay soccer players can't use their hands, but the goalie and American football players can use their hands. "Hello" folks who are against clapping in church. Take a good look around. Let me find a few of these YouTube videos that feature "againsters" and "forers" when it comes to clapping. I noticed one uses Pope Benedict as a source for no clapping and then I spotted a video of people clapping for him. Smile. Loosen up everyone.
Today’s gospel opens up several points or issues we can
reflect upon.
1) We can meditate or reflect or pray about the idea:
Without Jesus we catch nothing; with Jesus we catch everything.
2) The Lord Jesus is always there on the shore of our
life—in the dark—the Son, the Dawn, about to rise and take away our darkness.
3) Forgiveness: there is a charcoal fire there. As
commentators point out, the only other place we hear about a charcoal fire was
in Jerusalem at the moment Peter denies Jesus. So this gospel will be a moment
of forgiveness for Peter.
4) The Church’s Mission is to be Open to all. And this is
the issue I would like to think and talk about. I always find that number 153
very interesting.
THE NUMBER 153
There are various interpretations on why John’s gospel tells
us that there were 153 fish.
Obviously, it’s a symbol of something. Yet, nobody really
knows for sure what the 153 means. I read different commentators and I noticed
some explanations given. Most commentators say we don’t know what the 153
stands for.
One theory is that 153 is the sum total of the first 17
numbers added up, that is, 1+2+3+4+5+6+7 etc. It might be a Pythagorean
calculation to which we no longer have the key. 17 would represent perfection
or wholeness. One can take 153 dots and put them in an equilateral triangle
with 17 dots at the base line and on each side with the remaining dots in the
middle. 153 dots laid out that way would make a perfect triangle.
What I like best is the thing that some think that 153
represents the number of species of fish that there were in the world at that
time. The learned poet Oppianus Cilix said there were 153 kinds of fish. Peter and the disciples are called to reach
out to all the world—to go fishing for all the different kinds of people.
The call to reach out to all: Peter and the whole church is
called to reach out to all people—to catch all people and then to celebrate
together with the Risen Christ in the great meal, the great banquet!
I believe that is a good theme for a homily that one can
take from this 21st chapter of St. John, especially since they cut
out the 3 “Do you love me” scene in today’s text. That can be found in the 3rd
Sunday of Easter, Year C. If we use it,
we can connect it better to Peter’s 3
fold denial of Christ.
The theme for this gospel is probably mission and ministry,
because it’s here at the end of the Gospel.
The worldwide mission of the church is to go out there and
bring in everyone—every kind of person—numbers of people—to form a pyramid of
people, a perfect triangle of people, to become like God. We’re made in his image. We are made in their
image and likeness. So mission—we are sent fishing—to bring into the Kingdom of God—all the peoples.
The Kingdom is like a dragnet thrown into the sea which
takes in every kind of person. (Cf. Matthew 13:47 or check Rev. 7:9 where it
mentions bringing together every tribe, tongue, and people.)
I’d like to reflect on an aspect of ministry: being open to
everyone or to put it negatively, not to exclude anyone - especially people we
judge or perceive as “uuuuuh!”
AQUARIUMS:
BALTIMORE - BOSTON - CONEY ISLAND - CAMDEN
Aren’t people, especially kids, but even adults moved,
excited, wowed a bit, when they visit an aquarium? I’ve been to aquariums in Baltimore, Boston,
Coney Island, and Camden, N.J.
One soon sees that there are more than 153 kinds of fish.
You might even see more than 153 kinds of fish in just one tank. I love to
watch people watch fish in an aquarium—especially kids. Wow. I hear kids spotting an interesting fish and
elbowing another kid with a “Look at that one. Wooooo!”
MESSAGES
In ministry, we spot all kinds of folks. We have to be in the
pool with all kinds of people. We have
to deal with sharks, piranhas and barracudas’ - as well as quiet but colorful other
types of tropical fish.
It’s difficult to be in communion with all.
With Christ, the stranger on the beach, it’s much easier.
Without Christ we struggle all through the night in the dark
- catching nothing.
In the gospel there are only 7 disciples. It’s not the whole
apostolic college of followers.
IXTUS: the fish - becomes a symbol for Christ. It can be
seen in the catacombs in Rome, on
tombstones and today on bumpers.
In catacombs of St. Sebastian 2nd half of 2nd century in Rome
We can compare this story in John with the story of Luke and
the catching of fish. In both accounts they have caught nothing. Many
specialists ask if both stories are about one experience. John has it after the
resurrection. Luke has it at the beginning of the call. Benoit likes Luke
because they already gave up their nets.
“It is the Lord!” John is the one who spots Jesus. He seems
to have a special spiritual sense - more spiritual insight - than Peter.
Peter is painted as the awkward one - impetuous - jumps in the
water - leaps out of the boat. His reactions are instinctive. The others stay
in boat till they get to shore. If everyone was like Peter, maybe the fish would
have been lost.
In John’s version of this fish story, the Eucharist - manna
- multiplication of the loaves - is feathered. Jesus gives life.
It’s the 3rd appearance of Jesus.
Notice that the net is not broken. The strain of mass
conversions took place and effected local communities - yet the kingdom of God
has room for all. Many - but unbroken
CONCLUSION
The bottom line is that all are called - including the strange
rangers.
The title of my homily for this Easter Thursday is "Marcion"
I pulled together today's thoughts because of one sentence in today's gospel from Luke: "Then he [Jesus] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures."
In order to understand Christ, one needs to understand the
whole of Scriptures. That’s a theme that appears quite a bit during the Easter
season. That’s the theme I’d like to reflect upon a bit today. Or to put it
another way: private interpretation of scripture vs. public interpretation.
When Christ died the disciples of Jesus had the rug pulled
out from under them. In the days that followed, the Risen Christ appeared to
them in mystery. Slowly they began to piece together what he had been saying to
them while he was with them before his death and resurrection. Slowly they
began to see his story in the Old Testament story. And even more slowly they
and then the Church began to understand the New Testament. But only slowly.
Slowly we need to begin to see both his story and our story
in the Old and New Testaments. Slowly we need to study scripture - but also
tradition - Church history. We need to look at the whole picture - the big
picture. We need to be Catholic - not Partial.
MARCION
It’s always easier to see the spots on the other leopard’s
back than our own. So let’s start with a character in Early Christianity whose
name was Marcion.
He was born in Sinope, in Pontus,
on the Black Sea. His father was a bishop and
his family belonged to the upper crust. He made a fortune on his own as a ship
owner. Somewhere along the line he went off on his own thinking. The result was
excommunication in his local church. The person who did it: his father.
Whether that was the reason or for some other reason, he
went to Rome in
140. In July of 144 he was excommunicated again - this time by the Church in Rome.
Johanes Quasten [1900-1987], world famous Roman Catholic Theologian and expert on the Early Church, points out, “There was an important difference
between Marcion and the other Gnostics. While the other Gnostics founded only
schools, Marcion after his separation from the Church of Rome founded his own
Church. He established a hierarchy of bishops, priests and deacons. The
liturgical meetings were very similar to those of the Roman Church. For this
reason he gained more adherents than any other Gnostic. Ten years after his
excommunication, Justin reports that his church had spread, `over the whole of
mankind.’ Up to the middle of the fifth century there remained many Marcionite
communities in the Orient, especially in Syria. Some of them were still in
existence at the dawn of the Middle Ages.” (Cf p. 268, Vol. I Quasten)
Exactly what he taught is hard to say. Very little of what
he wrote remains. But what he said had a great impact, based on the number of
communities of Marcionites that sprung up and the amount of print he received
from so many other EarlyChurch writers.
For our purpose here I am using Marcion as an example of the
type of person who is narrow in his use of Scripture. He is a good example of
someone who selects scripture to back his own viewpoints and not the other way
around.
It happens all the time. Listen to people. If there is any
one area where people have lots of their own opinions and theories, it’s with
the Bible. They like what they like and they avoid what they don’t like. We’re
selective readers and listeners.
One of my private theories is that another cause of this
practice is that people have picked up their ideas from preachers through the
years who didn’t do enough homework. You’re looking at one right here. We
preachers get a lot of nonsense off. Laziness is one of the main causes. That’s
another one of my pet theories. It takes time to read up on the different
studies and research on different scripture passages. It’s much easier to
babble on from the pulpit: the Tower
of Babel.
The Catholic Church certainly has opened up a lot on the
Bible in the past 50 + years. And one of the good things that has happened in
the Catholic Church, is their 3 year, 2 year and 1 year cycle in the use of
Scripture. It forces us to read and hear most of the Bible in a 3 year cycle.
As we move ahead, hopefully, people will attend scripture courses and preachers
will do more homework and become more and more open to being stretched.
Marcion eliminated Matthew, Mark and John. Then he cut out a
lot of Luke. In Paul he razor bladed out the pastoral epistles of Paul as well
as Hebrews. He put the Letter to the Galatians first and changed the Epistle to
the Ephesians to the Epistles to the Laodiceans. He also eliminated the whole
OT. So becoming a priest in his church would be a lot faster. You would not
have to study a lot of that Scripture
stuff.
Marcion read the scriptures and saw 2 gods. Read the
scriptures and listen to the psalms when we say office and you can see where he
might be coming from.
First there is the good God who lives in the third heaven.
You find him in the New Testament - or better in what Marcion had saved of the
New Testament.
Then there is the just god who created the world and man.
This god is none other than the demiurge - who is well known in Gnostic sects.
This second god did not create the world out of nothingness, but formed it out
of the eternal matter, the seed of all evil. This god - this second god - is
the god of the Jews - the god of the Law and the Prophets. He has passions. He
gets angry. He is revengeful. He is the author of all evil - be it physical or
moral. He is the instigator of all wars. (cf. Quasten, Vol. 1, p. 270)
How’s that for selective editing? How’s that for selective
thinking?
THE NEED TO BE
CATHOLIC
What do you do with someone who thinks and preaches that
way? You throw the bum out. His father did it and the Church of Rome did.
The word Catholic means whole - KATA HOLOS.
So some obvious lessons for us can be found here.
1) The need to
know what we believe in - what scripture texts we favor and what ones we avoid.
2) The need to be
open to all the scriptures - to do our homework - to do our research - to study
and to read.
3) The need to be
open to the Church and its teachings. Marcion wasn’t. But the Church also needs
to be open to the research and study done by scripture people. In the past this
hasn’t been always so.
4) The need to be
open to our tradition - both in the Old and New Testament - to clarify and
collate what we have learned and go from there.
CONCLUSION
I think that’s about enough for now. Amen. Come Lord Jesus. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mosaic on top - Jesus Christ Pantocrator in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey.
